Hermione's Secret
by LizzyElphabaLovegood
Summary: After a timeturner malfunction, Hermione is stuck in the maruders era, and needs to get back. The only people who can help are her friends dad, the wanted criminal, her friends pet rat, and her DADA teacher. Critique please, just don't be a jerk about it.
1. Chapter 1

Hermione stormed up the stairs and slammed the door. _That old fraud,_ she thought. _She's just making things up! Pretending she can "see" things with her Inner Eye, whatever the hell that is. Is Dumbledore mad, hiring her? Well, I guess he _is _a bit mad, but still!_ She was very good at internal arguments with herself. She sighed and threw herself onto her bed. The dorm was empty, as it was the middle of the school day and everyone else was in their classes. She had had enough of Professor Trelawney, or Professor Crackpot, as she'd been calling her in her head for the past few months. She'd found satisfaction in the appalled faces of her classmates as she'd left the room. She didn't think Trelawney would punish her, she would probably claim she already knew this would happen.

She reached into the neck of her robes and pulled out the long chain of her timeturner. It didn't look like anything special, just a glass hourglass on a thin golden chain. But Hermione knew, this could change the fate of the world. It was a timeturner. Professor McGonnagall had to send a large quantity of owls to the ministry to get it for her. It was to help her with her classes, as there wasn't enough time to take everything she wanted. It would be easier now that she wasn't taking Divination.

She stared at it, the glass catching the sunlight, making it sparkle. There had been so many things she had been tempted to do when she got it. She could fix almost any problem, do her towering pile of homework in a matter of seconds, and relive the moments she savored most. But she had promised she wouldn't misuse it, and she was smart enough to know what would happen if she did.

She absentmindedly turned it in her fingers, wondering what she could have changed if she went back in time. She could have destroyed the mirror of Erised and stopped Voldemort from getting the sorcerors stone. She could have killed the Basilisk before Tom Riddle did anything to Ginny. Knowing what was to come would be amazingly helpful. She was deep in her daydreams before she realized what she had done.

People were zooming in in and out of the room unnaturally fast. She saw herself and her dorm mates in fast motion, doing their everyday things. The sun was rising and setting out the window in a matter of seconds. Hermione had been turning the timeturner, and was going back in time.

But something was strange about this. The people were moving even faster than they usually were when she went back. Days were passing, instead of hours like they were supposed to. When she looked down at the necklace it had stopped moving, but she was still going back in time. She began to panic. When would it stop? Would it stop? Could she be stuck moving through time until the very beginning? Then what? She desperately hoped it would stop, and soon. There was nothing she could do but wait.

She sat against the wall in the corner of the room, watching time pass. Now no one was coming in to the room, it remained empty as the days passed. Then it filled up again with new people. Familiar people. _It must be last year, and I just went through summer vacation. _Was she really moving that fast? It had only been five minutes (technically) and she was already in last year. Something was terribly wrong. It had never acted this way. Did timeturners malfunction? Nothing she had read ever said anything about timeturner malfunctions, but it could probably happen. Heck, it was happening now.

Two years had passed. Three. Four. How long had she been sitting here? A variety of different people had come in and out of the room. People she knew from the Quidditch team and elsewhere, and people she had never seen before. All of them girls, obviously. As time passed, it seemed to speed up. The days went faster and faster, she couldn't even make out the peoples faces anymore. The world was a blur. She needed to get out of this. Somehow, it all needed to end. She was about to go insane. The sun went up in down in less than a second. Hermione wished she had never even gotten the stupid timeturner.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. She could just take it off. She removed the chain from her neck. Everything stopped. She felt really stupid. Why hadn't she thought to take it off before? Now she was in a time period she didn't belong in. Where, or when, was she? Even though she knew it was a bad idea, she was curious. She would find out when she was and then go back, assuming the timeturner

still worked.

She got up and stuffed the timeturner back in her robes. It was midmorning. If it was a weekday then everyone was in their classes. Judging by all of the personal belongings, it was during the school year. When she looked out the window, the trees were bare. It was winter. But when? It was time to find out.

The Gryffindor common room looked exactly the same as it did in the future. The armchairs, the hardwood floor, the fire place. It was as if she had never left. Hermione dashed down the stairs and through the portrait hole. The Fat Lady was still there, snoozing in her frame. She closed the portrait and started down the hall. She had no idea where she was going, or what she would do. She just wanted to see what things were like now.

A door closed. Hermione jumped. "Hello there." A voice called out. When she saw who was there, she did a double take. "_Harry?_"  
>"Uh, no," he said. "My name is James." That's when she saw his eyes. They weren't green, like Harry's.<p>

They were hazel.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Hey everyone! Thanks SO MUCH for reading and reviewing this! Those emails and notifications saying that people love it means so much to me! Sorry it took so long to update. It's also rather short. Thanks again!  
>-Liz (DefyingGravity)<strong>

My eyes opened wide. "James _Potter?" _

"Uh, yeah. How do you know me? I've never seen you before."

"Oh, I uh..." I flashed back to what Harry said a while ago. James was a seeker, right? "I've seen you play Quidditch. You're really good."

"Thanks. I haven't seen you around. Are you in Gryffindor?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. Maybe I just haven't payed any attention to the younger people in my house. What's your name?" He asked. He thought she was a second year! "Hermione." _Crap! I should have used a fake name! _She thought. _I could get in so much trouble... _She decided to use a fake last name. "Hermione Watson." She said. "Nice to meet you, Hermione. How do you spell that?"

"H-E-R-M-I-O-N-E."

"Hm, interesting name. I like it."

"Thanks," She replied.

"Well, I'd better get going. I'm supposed to pick something up for Professor Flitwick."

"Oh, yeah. OK. Bye."

"Bye." And he continued down the hall. "_James Potter!_" She said to herself when he was out of earshot. "I just met Harry's dad!" it was interesting, how much he looked like his son. It put her in the state of mind she was talking to her friend, rather than his dad. Only, James seemed more easy going, while Harry was more serious. His posture was also different, more carefree. "Well, at least I know where I am now." She looked around. Everything looked exactly as it was years later. _I should probably go back now, _She thought. _James Potter! If only Harry knew... _She turned back to the portrait hole.

And realized she didn't know the password.

She turned and ran after James. "JAMES!" She shouted, her feet loudly slapping the carpeted floor. She saw him disappear down the stairs. He didn't hear her. She hurried down after him. "JAMES!" She shouted again. It echoed down the long spiraling staircase. He looked up at her from a floor down. "Yeah?"

"I-I forgot the password to the common room."

"Oh, it's 'gillywater.'"

"Thank you!"

"No problem!" She turned and ran back up the stairs. Without her noticing, the long chain of the timeturner had fallen out of her robes and was now caught on the decorative top of the railing. She felt a tug on her neck and tripped on the top step, sprawling onto the cold stone ground, scraping her hands where she tried to break her fall. There was a _snap! _And the sound of breaking glass. She got up, brushed herself off, and turned around to see her second worst nightmare (besides failing all of her classes) on the steps behind her. There, a few glass fragments and pile of sand lay scattered across to narrow steps. It was all that was left of her timeturner.


	3. Chapter 3

_ NOOOOOO! _Hermione thought. N_o no no no no no no NO! How could this happen? _She skipped down the stairs to the timeturner. Tiny shards of broken glass, sand everywhere, and the broken chain trailing down the stairs. She pulled out her wand, trying to stay calm. "Reparo." Nothing happened. It was beyond repair. How was she going to get back now? She would never see her family, or Harry and Ron, ever again. They would wonder what had become of her, after storming out of divination. As she swept up the glass and the sand, she began to cry. The glass was cutting her hands, but she didn't care. She was never going to get back. It would kill her to look at James and never see Harry again. The only way she could get back would be another timeturner. The Ministry had those, and there was no way she could just stroll right into the Ministry of Magic and request a timeturner. She was sure to be caught if she broke in, and even so, she didn't know where they kept them. Not wanting to throw it away, just in case it could somehow be fixed, she put what was left in her pocket and went down the stairs all the way to the first floor so she could wash the blood off of her hands in the bathroom. As she turned the handles of the faucet, she heard something. It sounded like tears. She turned the water off and went to investigate. She walked through the bathroom, opening each of the stalls. There was no one there. "Hello?" she called. "Who's there?" The crying abruptly stopped. She slowly opened the door to the last stall. In it was a girl, with pigtails, oversized glasses, and a Ravenclaw robe. She was transparent. "MYRTLE!" Hermione shouted gleefully. The sight of someone familiar made her a bit more hopeful, even if it was Moaning Myrtle. She jumped in surprise. "Who are you? How do you know my name?" Hermione had no explanation for this. "I've never seen you before," said Myrtle. "What are you doing here? I can tell by your robes that your a student."  
>"Uhhh, I guess you must have just not seen me. I've been here the whole year." Myrtle looked at her suspiciously. "Hmmm, alright. I thought I knew most people, everyone comes into the bathroom at some point."<br>"I never use this one." said Hermione quickly, thinking up excuses as fast as she could. This was a mistake. "It's because of me, isn't it! No one wants to come in here because of me! They don't like my crying, but I can't help it! I'm a ghost! They throw things at me! No one uses my toilet! They all hate me!" She began crying louder and harder than ever before, and swooped over the stall and into the toilet. Hermione decided to leave her alone. As she exited the bathroom, people began flooding out of classrooms. Soon Hermione was lost in a crowd of people. She didn't know what to do, go to a class, or just wander the halls. Maybe even go back up to Gryffindor tower. But something told her that if she was going to start a new life here, then she should probably do to class. But which one? She decided to follow a Gryffindor girl who looked about her age. Hopefully she was in third year too. The girl led her to Transfiguration. Professor MacGonagall was teaching, but she looked much younger, with no wrinkles and no gray streaks in her hair. Hermione took a seat next to the girl, who looked startled. "Who are you?"  
>"Hermione Watson. Uh, I'm a transfer student. From Beauxbatons. My family just moved here from France."<p>

"You don't have a French accent."  
>"I only lived in France for a year, before that I lived in England. My parents homeschooled me when I was eleven." She was proud of herself for making up such a good cover story on the spot like that. The girl shrugged. Just then, four boys walked in. They were laughing and talking. Then I recognized one of them. It was James. "Oh, no!" I exclaimed out loud. James still thought I was a second year! "You hate them too? They're so obnoxious. Especially Potter. By the way, I'mm Lily. Lily Evans." Then Hermione recognized her. When she looked into her emerald colored eyes, it was just as if she were looking into Harry's.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Before I could reply to Lily, James piped up. "Hey, Watson! What are you doing here?"

"I'm in class."

"Class? But I've never seen you here before!"

"I'm a transfer, from Beauxbatons,"

"Beauxbatons? But you said-" She cut him off. "I didn't say anything. You thought I was a second year and I didn't have time to explain."

"You had all the time in the world!"  
>"You didn't let me!" He sighed. "Whatever." and plopped down next to a good looking boy with dark hair and started whispering rapidly to him. Hermione turned back to Lily. She started to talk to her, but the redheaded girl was too busy fuming at the two boys. "You really hate them, don't you?"<p>

"Yes, I do."

"What did they do to you?" She asked. "They didn't do anything to me, but they bully my friend. They're just so...full of themselves!" she burst out, probably a little louder than she should have. James and the other boy looked sharply behind them at Lily. "I know what you mean," Hermione replied. Just then Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "Today we will be learning how too..." she faltered when she passed me. "Who are you?" It was extremely weird having someone you know ask who you were. "Hermione Watson. I'm a transfer student from Beauxbatons," She said. McGonagalls brow furrowed in a very familiar way. "Dumbledore didn't say anything to me about a transfer,"

"Didn't he?" Sweat was beading on Hermione's forehead. What would happen when they got to the bottom of this? "Well, here I am, Professor. He told me to come here for Transfiguration."

"Where are your books? And your parchment? And quills?" It was clear that she was suspicious. "Uhhh, I uhh...I left them in the common room. I forgot. I'm sorry." It pained Hermione to be saying these things. She had never come to class unprepared in her entire life. "Well then you better go get them!" McGonagall said, gesturing for her to go. Hermione got up and left the room. The door closed behind her and she was alone in the hallway again. _What am I going to do? _She thought. Her best option seemed to be to go to the common room and borrow someone else's stuff. All of the Gryffindor girls were in Transfiguration now, but she could only hope that someone might have a spare book. There was definitely going to be extra parchment, quills, and ink. No one brought all of their stuff to class, in case something got lost, or broken.

Five flights of stairs later, she was in front of the portrait hole again. "You again?" The Fat Lady asked. "Yes. I forgot my stuff for class." The Fat Lady peered closely at her. "I don't think I've ever seen you before."

"I'm a transfer student." She was getting tired of explaining. "Gillywater." The door swung open and Hermione ran back up to the girls dormitory. There was parchment sprawled all over one of the beds and a bottle of ink with a couple quills on the nightstand. She stuffed them all into someone elses bag, along with their Transfiguration book, and ran all the way back down to the classroom. She opened the door, panting. McGonagall was waiting impatiently. "Sit down, Miss Watson. Next time, don't forget your things," she snapped. Hermione slid back into her seat next to Lily. "Smooth," she hissed sarcastically. Hermione glared sideways at her as McGonagall started the lesson. "Today we will be talking about Animagi-" A boy in the front with rather large glasses shot his hand into the air and immediately began speaking. "An animagus is a wizard that can turn into an animal of their choice. They must register with the Ministry of Magic first so they can keep tabs on people in case anything happens." Hermione looked at him, bewildered. She couldn't have explained it better herself. Of course, she always waited until the right time, when the professor asked. This guy seemed like an insufferable know it all.

Apparently, Professor McGonagall was used to this, because she said; "Roland, for the last time, please wait until I finish talking. As I was saying-" The boy with the dark hair next to James raised his hand. McGonagall sighed. "Yes, Sirius?"

"Are there any Animagi that _aren't _registered?"

"Well, if there are, no one knows about them. Anyways-" she broke off when James raised his hand and blurted out; "How do you become an Animagus?" She gave him the death glare with those dark brown eyes of hers, and it was so hot I was surprised it didn't burn a hole through his robes. James shrank back in his chair, now silent. "Now that everyone's _stopped interrupting, _Animagi are people who can turn into animals, as Roland said. I'm an animagus myself, for that matter-"  
>"Can you show us?" asked a girl a couple desks away with two extremely long blond braids. McGonagall sighed, but relented. "Fine, but as long as you stop speaking out of turn." She stepped back, and within seconds a tabby cat with dark markings around its eyes was standing in her place. The whole class gasped, and a lot even began to clap. Hermione didn't, though. She had already seen this. In fact, she had already been in this class, back in the future with Harry and Ron. Lily turned to look at her. "Why aren't you clapping? That was so amazing!" I smiled and nodded. "It was really cool!" I said, trying to sound excited. The professor, who now looked like herself, hurriedly quieted down the class and continued her lecture. Hermione then realized, she had heard a very similar lecture quite a few years after (that didn't make sense), with all the same information that McGonagall was giving them now. So for the first time in her entire life, Hermione let her mind wander during class.<p>

She thought about Harry and Ron, who were probably wondering where she was. She thought about her family, and her Muggle friends back home, and wondered if she was ever going to get back. There had to be a way. Surely things like this had happened before. She would figure it out. She was smart. She was clever. She would think of something.

She stared out the window at the sunny day outside, watching owls soar by the window across the Caribbean blue sky. There were brown ones, gray ones, speckled ones, and even a couple white ones that reminded her of Hedwig, who, of course, reminded her of Harry. She only wished he wasa with her now. Looking over at James, she could almost believe he was. But there was something different about the way James held himself. More of a careless, relaxed posture, while Harry was slightly more serious and solidly straight, as opposed to the loose, lazy slouch of his father.

"Your homework tonight is to pick a famous animagus from the past and research how they used their powers in their daily lives." said Professor McGonagall. "Class dismissed." Hermione stood up, packed her bag (or someone elses bag), and walked out the door with Lily. "We have a free period next. We should probably go to the library and start up on that essay," she said. I nodded. "Good idea."

Five minutes later, the two girls were scouring the shelves for _Shapeshifting: A Guide to Animagi, _The book Professor McGonagall had recommended to them, but it was nowhere to be found. "Do you think someone else has it?" asked Lily. "Probably. We all got the same homework assignment." So they sank down onto a bench, accepting defeat. Hermione still couldn't get over the fact that she was on the fast lane toward becoming good friends with Harry's mom. Every time she looked in Lily's eyes, she saw Harry, not the cheerful redheaded girl that she had just met a little while ago. Suddenly, those green eyes she was thinking about lit up in excitement. "Sirius! He has the book!"

"What?" Hermione replied quizzically. "Over there," she said motioning to the handsome dark haired boy that she had seen with James when they were in class. "James's friend, Sirius Black." Hermione's eyes widened. "The criminal?" she exclaimed shrilly. When Lily's head snapped to look at her, she realized what she had done. "Criminal? He might as well be. You should see the way he treats my friend. Come on, lets go get that book." Bewildered, she followed Lily after Sirius. Now that she knew, she could see the resemblance between the boy and the man she saw on wanted posters everywhere. Only, the Sirius she was standing before now was better groomed and less wild than on the poster. "Hey! Black!" Lily called. "Can we borrow that book when you're done with it?" He turned, his gray eyes containing a slightly mischevious glint. "No problem. But I might take a while. James, Petger, and Remus need it too."

"Seriously? We asked first!" He smirked. "Sorry. We need it more than you do."  
>"You do <em>not<em>! We both have the same assignment, for the same teacher! How could you need it more?"  
>"I'm sorry," he said with a grin. "That's classified information. I'll get back to you." and he left the library, leaving me with a fuming Lily.<p> 


End file.
